


All's Fair

by dogmatix



Series: Tabula Rasa [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: GFY, M/M, Multi, sex and rebellions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 09:02:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7261390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogmatix/pseuds/dogmatix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The bordello gets an interesting surprise visitor, and Ben decides to take matters into his own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is m/m sex in this, you have been warned. (or intrigued, in which case, read on)

Freshly showered, Ben sauntered down to the common room, nodding to Oleana as they led a client up to the rooms.  Makandir was busy flirting with a nervous Zarahng youth – probably the girl’s first time in a bordello. She was in good hands with Makandir, who was one of the more experienced prostitutes.

Ben reclined on a chaise near the door, stretching out and enjoying a breather. He’d just finished with Biana, who was a regular of his.  She liked to cuddle and chat, after sex, which was part of why Ben liked her. Several of Ben’s clients liked to talk things over with him; they said he was a good listener, and his advice was usually sound.  Madam An-aranay kept dropping hints that Ben should take some classes in counseling, since he was offering what amounted to that service, and Ben was considering it.

The door started to slide open, but whoever had triggered it was moving too fast and slammed into the half-open door, ricocheting off it and stumbling into the room.  The newcomer tripped over their own feet and collapsed onto Ben, who caught them instinctively.

Ben gaped down at the black-haired man in his lap. The man lifted his head, wide-eyed and out of breath.

“What’s going on here?” one of the bouncers – Onor – asked, coming over.

The black-haired man, who’d been staring up at Ben like a nerf in the headlights, glanced around, taking in the startled prostitutes and clients and the scowling bouncer.  “S-sorry, I didn’t- sorry,” the man stammered, starting to get up.

There was a commotion outside, and some angry voices overlapped with indignant shouts.  Ben made a snap decision. “It’s okay Onor, I’ve got this one,” he said with a disarming grin as he caught the black-haired man’s arm in a vice grip and started dragging him up the stairs. “Delay them for me!” he called back to Onor, who rolled his eyes and twitched his lekku in exasperation, used to Ben’s quirks by now.

“H-hey, let go!” the man tried to tug out of Ben’s grip, to no avail.

“Why are they chasing you?” Ben asked.

“Chasing me? Who said anyone’s chasing me?”

“I assume they’re after whatever you’re hiding in your pocket, and I _don’t_ think it was just that you were happy to see me. Given my line of work, I’m familiar with what _that_ feels like,” Ben chatted on as he pulled the flustered man into a room. “So. Thief? Or Rebel?”

The ‘Galactic Empire’ had only lasted a few weeks.  When the Emperor had vanished, the former-Republic planets had blamed the former-Confederacy planets, which had started a round of infighting that Ben and Cody had followed via the holonet. Cody more closely than Ben, although that wasn’t saying much, since Ben mostly avoided the news.

The former-Confederacy planets had started to pull out of the Empire, and without the Emperor or a clear successor to keep things in line, it had quickly become a splintering the likes of which the galaxy hadn’t seen for several thousand years.

There was still an Empire, though much reduced.  It centered mostly around Coruscant and a few other Core systems like Alderaan.  Some of the larger groups that had cohered out of the chaos were the Mandalorian Worlds, the Mon Calamari Systems, and the Naboo Republic.  The Naboo Republic included the entire Chommell sector and several of the surrounding ones as well.  That was nice for the people living in the Naboo Republic, but Naboo was very far away from Zarahng.

Located in the north-east section of the Outer Rim, Zarahng was balanced between Hutt space to the galactic south of them, and the growing Dennogra Empire to the north.  The Hutts were expanding, but not in Zarahng’s direction, for now.  Zarahng was loosely affiliated with the Saleucami Union, and as one of several worlds in the region that relied on tourist trade, very averse to conflict in general. Conflict was bad for business, unless your business was war.  If push came to shove, the Saleucami Union might fall to the Dennogra Empire without a single shot.  If that happened, nothing might chance, or everything might.  Cody was dead set on abandoning Zarahng if things got bad, and Ben understood the sentiment, even if he wasn’t sure how he felt about it himself.

For now though, Zarahng was still relatively ‘free,’ and the Rebels working against the Dennogra Empire often set up cells here.  At least that’s what the media coverage said. Some of it might be pure propaganda to give the Dennogra Empire ‘cause’ to subdue the Saleucami Union. Some of it might be true. Hence, Ben’s question to the thief he now had on his hands.

“Errrr,” the man said.  “Thief?”

A Rebel, then. A _thieving_ Rebel, but probably a Rebel.

“Are you sex-averse?” Ben asked – purred, really – as he slid up against the Rebel.  That got him a squeak and a blush. Offworlders, honestly.

Ben bumped the Rebel’s hip just right, sending the man stumbling back a step to where the back of his legs hit the bed. Not giving the Rebel time to react, Ben straddled his lap and kissed him. By the time the Rebel’s mind caught up to his body, Ben had already coaxed his lips open and was running his tongue along the inside edge of the Rebel’s lips.

Flushed, the Rebel broke away. “Wh- What are you- hey!”

Ben was making good headway on stripping the man of his armour tossing the pieces to the other side of the bed, where they fell into the large gap between the bed and the wall, hiding them from sight. “Trust me,” Ben said, and muffled the Rebel’s protest with another kiss.

By the time the pursuers made their way upstairs and started checking rooms, Ben and the Rebel were devouring each other, kissing and licking and sending their hands roaming wherever they could reach on the broad expanses of the other’s naked skin.

A door slid open, and Ben heard a startled curse before the door slid shut again.

“You- you can stop now,” the Rebel said breathlessly, even as he was rolling his hips in small thrusts against Ben.

“I could,” Ben agreed smugly, then kissed the Rebel again, trailing his hand down and curling it around the man’s hard cock.  Ben gave it another few seconds, then he started nipping and kissing his way down the Rebel’s front.  Reaching his goal, Ben turned the handjob into a blowjob.  He’d picked up several tips and techniques in his five years working at the bordello, but didn’t get a chance to use them here, as the Rebel came quickly, spending himself into Ben’s mouth with a quiet whine.

Ben discreetly spat into the sheets while the Rebel got his breath back.  Bitter wasn’t a taste Ben enjoyed, and most human come was bitter. A thought occurred to Ben, and he frowned.

“You’re clean, right?”

“What?” the Rebel asked, still dazed.

“Clean. You don’t have any diseases?”

The Rebel glared at Ben half-heartedly. “Now is a _little late_ to be asking. But yeah, I’m clean.”

Ben grinned sheepishly. Usually clients were asked to do a quick blood-test before heading up to the rooms, but in the heat of the moment it had slipped Ben’s mind. “Well, at least you’re in the clear.  From your pursuers, I mean.  I’m Ben, by the way.”

The Rebel sighed and seemed to decide to roll with the craziness. “Kanan. I don’t suppose you know of a back way out of here?” the Rebel – Kanan – asked, then shot a look at Ben. “ _Don’t_ make that joke.”

Ben closed his mouth, but kept grinning. “Joke? I was about to make a joke?”  That earned him another look. “All right, all right,” Ben laughed and rolled off of Kanan. “Come on, I know a place you can hide out.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter because I am tired. And slightly evil. But mostly tired.

This was definitely one of the stranger rescues Kanan had ever run into. Literally as well as figuratively.  This whole operation had been…not a disaster, but certainly not operating with the kind of efficiency Kanan was used to.  Then again, he was used to ops run by Fulcrum.  Sure, sometimes things went wrong or blew up, but it was rarely because of internal bungling.

Kanan was one of the better operatives in the Resistance, which was based out of Naboo and had the semi-unofficial funding of the Naboo Alliance.  The Resistance was made up of an odd mix of people; Jedi, Separatists, former (or sometimes current) military, civilians, and every species between the stars.  What they had in common was a driving idealism that the galaxy didn’t need to be torn by war and ruled by despots.  First, they’d helped protect Naboo from pirates and greedy neighbours. Now, they were extending their reach.  The Mon Calamari Systems had contacted Naboo about a possible alliance, partly because of their matching ideology of democracy and belief that people were more than just fodder to make the rich richer, partly because the Dennogra Empire next door to them was stepping up their imperial military.

Hence Kanan’s presence on Zarahng.  He’d pulled off his intel-gathering mission on Dennogra, more in spite of his contacts than because of them.  Zarahng, being a Saleucami Union world, should have been a safe place to go to ground, but he had at least one persistent tail willing to risk interplanetary incidents to get back the intel on their military vessels.

The bordello had been a surprise, although it really shouldn’t have been – Zarahng was infamous in the sector for its attitudes about sex and death, though apparently only the royal family was still required to practice ritual cannibalism when the reigning monarch kicked the bucket. Something about passing on the wisdom of the elders or whatever.

Rescue by blowjob was not something he’d be putting into his report.  Fulcrum, for all that she was like an older sister to him, did not need to know about that.

Ben had snuck them out a side-entrance and taken a back-alley, circuitous route to the small house – an apartment, really – that he shared with his husband.  Ben had a thousand questions, most of which Kanan declined to answer. Not that that stopped Ben from speculating, coming up with wild theories, and asking even more questions. Ben might be older than Kanan, but the native Zarahng obviously had little experience with actual war or subterfuge. His heart was in the right place, at least.

“Oh good, he’s home,” Ben said as he palmed the lock for the back door. “Cody!” he called as he urged Kanan into kitchen of the small house. “I’m home! You’ll never guess what happened at work today.”

“Oh?”

Kanan went whipcord tense as Ben’s husband stepped into the kitchen. A clone. Ben’s husband was a _clone_.

It wasn’t the first clone that Kanan had seen since those chaotic days at the end of the Republic. There were several clones in the Rebellion, and they were good, dedicated beings, driven by conviction and shame, even though the truth about the role of Order 66 in the slaughter of the Order was known among both the clones and the remaining Jedi. Kanan had even worked with a clone from time to time.  A part of him couldn’t seem to forget his Master’s death at the blasters of clones she and Kanan both had trusted, but that was Kanan’s problem, not the clones’, and he recognized that.

It was still a shock, to encounter one here, without warning.

Kanan’s eyes locked on the scar running jaggedly along the outside of Cody’s left eye, and old memories jumped to life. Cody. _Commander Cody_ of the 212 th.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to norcumi for the help with getting this chapter off the ground.

Cody saw the instant Ben’s tagalong recognized him. It was the damned scar that did it, because of course it was.  Ben, they could disguise with a shave and some non-Jedi clothes.  Cody was a different matter. He’d tried growing a beard – not a bushy one, just one that lay close to his face and changed his jawline a bit – but it had never felt natural, and he’d shaved it off after a year.  Besides, people either recognized him as ‘a clone,’ or not at all.  This newcomer was the first one to ID _Cody_ , specifically.

That, in turn, left Cody with a few questions of his own.  He was tracking Ben’s explanation, so he knew that the newcomer, Kanan, was a Rebel. That didn’t quite explain the instant recognition. No, this guy was either some kind of war aficionado, or had worked with the GAR in some capacity during the war itself. The guy looked too young to have been been in the war unless...oh, fuck him sideways. A Jedi Padawan.  That was a worst-case explanation, but considering the way their luck ran sometimes, Cody would bet money on it.

At least the Rebel had the sense to keep his mouth shut and his face blank after that first double-take. “So you want us to help this guy?” Cody asked Ben.

“I know how you feel about getting involved,” Ben said, guilt chasing determination across his face, “but it wouldn’t be difficult, and-“

“It wouldn’t be difficult for _now,_ ” Cody bit out more sharply than he’d meant to. Damnit.  “I’m sorry for snapping at you,” he apologized, softening his voice and taking one of Ben’s hands in his.  “I think we can help your Rebel, but I have to talk with him for a minute, alone.”

“Alone?” Ben asked.

“There are some things I need to ask him that relate to…well. Headaches.”

“Oh,” Ben said, understanding dawning.  He was obviously disappointed, but he nodded. “I’ll wait in the living room.”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Cody said to the Rebel as soon as Ben was out of earshot, “so stop getting ready to make a break for it.”

“Right. Because I have so many reasons to trust you.” It was subtle, but Kanan was poised to make a dash for it, possibly not through the door.

“If you break our window, I’m taking damages out of your hide,” Cody glared. “Look. Ben wants to help you, so we’ll help you. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

“You’re _Commander Cody,_ ” Kanan spat out the name as if it were something dirty.

Cody kept a hold on his temper. “I used to be. Now I’m just another guy.”

“’Just another guy?’ You were Master Kenobi’s Clone Commander. What happened on Utapau? What happened to Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

Definitely a former padawan.  Well, the good news was that Kanan hadn’t recognized Ben.  Cody looked fixedly at him so as not to give anything away by glancing at the doorway to the living room.  “Obi-Wan Kenobi is gone.”

 “You killed him?” Kanan asked, horrified.

Cody gave the Rebel a narrow glare.  “Not that it’s any of your business, but that bantha-slime Palpatine contacted me _personally_ to issue Order 66. What do you _think_ happened?”

Kanan took an instinctive step back, his eyes going to the one side of Cody’s head.

“ _Yes_ , I got the karking chip out. Now _drop_ it.”

It took a couple more minutes of arguing and posturing, but Kanan did, at last, accept Cody’s help. Twelve uncomfortable hours later, Kanan-the-Rebel was on his way offworld.

Cody had the feeling that he and Ben hadn’t seen the last of the Rebels, but for now they had their home and privacy back.

Cody finished his nightly ablutions, then slid into bed beside his husband. It was winter, so they had a light blanket to sleep under – Zarahng never got very cold, at least not where they were.   Last year, the two of them had taken a vacation down south, where it got below freezing in the dead of winter.  Cody remembered standing outside with Ben, both of them huddled into a warm blanket as a rare snowfall drifted down around them. 

Cody remembered the killing snow and ice of Orto Plutonia. He remembered brothers falling around him, their red blood spattered across icy fields because a stubborn, war-bent politician decreed it so.  But for Ben, Zarahng’s gentle snowfall was all he knew. A small part of Cody missed his General with the constant ache of a wound refusing to heal.  The rest of him loved Ben with a ferocity that left him breathless.

“Did I make the wrong choice?” Ben asked, voice quiet and reflective.

“Helping the Rebel, you mean?”

“Hmm.” Ben nodded.  “I know there’s a lot I don’t know, but I’m not stupid. You didn’t like Kanan, and he wasn’t happy either. And I did kind of spring it on you.”

All true, but even without his memory, this was Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the most reckless men in the galaxy, and one of the bravest.  Cody couldn’t say he hadn’t known what he’d be getting into.  “You did what you felt was right.” Cody pressed his lips lightly to Ben’s.  “I can’t fault you for that.”

Ben slid one hand under the top of Cody’s boxers, running fingers over the smooth skin he found there. “You’re right about it probably not being the end of it, too. We can- we can turn them away, if you want. If they come back.”

Cody ran a hand through Ben’s long, reddish-gold hair. “Ben.”

Ben ducked his head a bit. “I want to help. It’s not right, what the Empire is doing. And if they come to Zarahng…  We can leave, maybe. Most people here can’t. But.  I know the- the war hurt you. Even without the nightmares you have… And I don’t want to go to war, not really. I definitely don’t want you to have to. But how can we turn a blind eye- ?”  Ben sighed and burrowed closer to Cody, tucking his head under Cody’s chin. “Is any of this making sense?”

Cody kissed the top of Ben’s head. “Yes.”  He closed his eyes, remembering the feel of his General’s sodden cloak clutched desperately in his hands, seeing again Obi-Wan’s broken, empty expression as he cradled Skywalker’s headless corpse.  No war. Not for them. Not ever again. They wouldn’t survive it. “We can provide aid. A place to hide. Resources. But no fighting.”

Ben’s passionate kiss wasn’t a surprise, but it was very welcome.  “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I hope it was spectacular,” Ben said with a wide grin, squeezing Cody’s ass with one hand.  Ben kissed him again, sparing Cody the need to come up with a response, because dear gods where would he even start?


End file.
